mellowgerman
Senior Member
I was going back through my old youtube channel that I've been locked out of now for a few years and came across this awesome version of Death Don't Have No Mercy. This has always been my favorite recording of this song. When I first found it online somewhere (probably around 2005), I'm pretty sure the source suggested it was likely from the 80's. For the longest time I took this to be a very good possibility since I decided Jack sounded like he was playing an acoustic bass -- so I immediately thought of his B-50 that he's seen playing in videos from the 80's. Reading through the comments though several people suggest this is actually from the early 70's, even citing particular dates and shows.
Listening to it now, after a lot more years of Hot Tuna listening under my belt, I agree that Jorma especially sounds like early-70's-Jorma, both in his vocals and guitar playing. Also, that definitely does sound like Papa John Creach.
Still, my ears are convinced that those are phosphor bronze roundwound bass strings on an acoustic bass. If this recording really was from the 70's, what bass could this be? I know a Starfire can have some subtle nuances similar to an acoustic, from resonance and the resulting string vibration. Regardless, I'm pretty sure this is not a Starfire or the bisonic'd flying V. I suppose it's possible that this is the Alembic strung with rounds as they do have a wicked versatile tonal palette, but all I truly hear is an acoustic bass with phosphor bronze strings, which there were very few to choose from in the early 70's... Could it have been his Balalaika bass? The only other recording it's on that I know of is the studio cut of "Third Week In The Chelsea"
What do you guys think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb8l8MWA7yk
Listening to it now, after a lot more years of Hot Tuna listening under my belt, I agree that Jorma especially sounds like early-70's-Jorma, both in his vocals and guitar playing. Also, that definitely does sound like Papa John Creach.
Still, my ears are convinced that those are phosphor bronze roundwound bass strings on an acoustic bass. If this recording really was from the 70's, what bass could this be? I know a Starfire can have some subtle nuances similar to an acoustic, from resonance and the resulting string vibration. Regardless, I'm pretty sure this is not a Starfire or the bisonic'd flying V. I suppose it's possible that this is the Alembic strung with rounds as they do have a wicked versatile tonal palette, but all I truly hear is an acoustic bass with phosphor bronze strings, which there were very few to choose from in the early 70's... Could it have been his Balalaika bass? The only other recording it's on that I know of is the studio cut of "Third Week In The Chelsea"
What do you guys think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb8l8MWA7yk
Last edited: